"That's okay. I'll go find out if there is a ship to Naha Port. Dongxiangjing's power here is too great, and it's not convenient for us to do anything."
"And Naha Port is very convenient to both Shanghai and Hong Kong. Nagasaki is a military port after all, and many ships don't come."
Fang Linyan nodded:
"Yes, but remember not to only investigate ships in Naha Port. You should also ask about ships going to other places in Japan."
Laming hesitated for a moment, then his eyes suddenly lit up and he said:
"high!"
Fang Linyan's explanation to Laming was actually directed at Dongxiangjing. As far as the current situation is concerned, Dongxiangjing is likely to send people to keep an eye on him. Once his intelligence system gets Fang Linyan, the young master of the Hu family,
What would Dong Xiangjing think when he asked everywhere about the ferry tickets to leave Hong Kong?
First, Fang Linyan clearly felt Jiu Guiyuan's hostility, feeling that he was causing bad things and that the arms negotiation could no longer continue, so he left secretly.
Second, Fang Linyan simply gave up after being assassinated. Then he felt that the water here was too deep, so he ran away.
No matter what Dong Xiangjing thinks, there is a high probability that he needs to comfort himself. How to comfort him?
Dongxiangjing didn’t have money, and he wouldn’t give it if he had.
Dongxiang Jing has arms, but if he wants to use them to hang Fang Linyan, he still won't give them to him.
Therefore, Dongxiangjing can only appease with human heads, either those of Jiugui Yuan or those of the assassins!!!
The group of people who assassinated Dong Xiangjing were heroes and a gang of traitors to the Yamato nation, but to Fang Linyan, they were an out-and-out stumbling block. The bastards who hindered the progress of the war would be counted as dead.
Of course, these assassins may be difficult to catch, but Dong Xiangjing is not a judge. He can attack the person "suspected" of being the mastermind of the assassins without any evidence!
For example, Kuroda Yuya was slapped by Togoi in public,
For example, Kitakatsu was not used to Dong Xiangjing for a long time and scolded him countless times while drinking in private...
Another example is those righteous officers who scolded Dong Xiangjing behind his back.
If Dong Xiangjing really did this, then Fang Linyan would really wake up laughing in his dreams tonight. This method of killing with a borrowed knife would be so satisfying.
Laming felt at ease when he went to handle matters for Fang Linyan. He was a professional spy, at least he was more reliable than himself.
At this time, his thoughts turned to the assassins he was fighting with. His dagger stabbed his thigh. These people were sure that they were not soft persimmons, so they should not come to trouble him in the short term. After all, Dongxiangjing
That is their primary goal.
Reviewing the battle in his mind at this time, Fang Linyan quickly judged that the assassin must still be in a dazed state after being hit by his own flying blade, so he was probably equipped with a relatively powerful body protection.
equipment.
This equipment should have a passive ability: "Trigger teleportation when receiving a certain degree of damage." Oh, by the way, it will also drop a smoke bomb that delays the enemy, so it disrupted my overall plan.
Fortunately, every step of the way leads to wisdom. Next time you encounter this bastard, Fang Linyan will use his mental tentacles to wrap him up in advance... Hehehehe, after you teleport, you realize that I am also following you.
Come here, are you surprised or surprised?
After standing on the street in trance for a while, Fang Linyan seemed to hear the strange sound of musical instruments again. It was shrill, strange, and eerie that penetrated people's hearts.
He suddenly realized that there was a musical instrument store next to him. Nagasaki is a port, so the boss's business must be very good. You can see a dazzling array of things inside, and you can even find guitars shipped back from overseas.
Of course, this thing was also called a six-stringed qin in China at this time, and people in the Westernization Movement called it a Van Aling.
Fang Linyan's heart moved, and he walked in unexpectedly. The boss inside immediately stepped forward and greeted him with a smile. He was a boss in a kimono, with a round face, and he was the kind of person who would make money by being friendly.
"Hello boss, I'm here to inquire about a musical instrument."
Fang Linyan didn't talk nonsense and got straight to the point: "This instrument is somewhat similar to the Chinese pipa and erhu. The sound is sharper. It should be a unique instrument in Japan. I have never seen it elsewhere."
While he was speaking, he had already placed a five-yuan denomination of Japanese currency, and then he bowed slightly as customary when entering the country:
"Thanks."
The boss happily accepted the five-yuan denomination and then said:
"What the guest said should be the shamisen, which is a unique musical instrument in our country."
As he said that, he turned around and entered the counter, and quickly walked out holding an instrument. Fang Lin Yanyi was very similar to the one he had seen, and even if there were some differences in appearance, it was not big.
However, the shamisen that the boss took out was a neutral and peaceful instrument, and did not have the feeling that the old man was carrying the evil spirit.
Because the "information fee" was paid, Fang Linyan continued to ask:
"There are some details that I saw that are different. The bow arm of that instrument seems to be made of bone, and the processing is not as delicate as yours. The work is much rougher than yours."
"By the way, there is a blood-red pattern on the skin of that instrument, which looks like it was painted on."
After hearing Fang Linyan's description, the boss suddenly took a breath and said:
"How long is the blood red pattern?"
Fang Linyan made a gesture, and the boss was stunned:
"Three feet long blood soul!!"
After being shocked for a while, he probably explained to Fang Linyan for the sake of the five yen:
"Guest, you mainly don't understand the making process of shamisen. It is divided into two parts, the slender arm and the music box below."
"When making a shamisen, there are three most important things: the wood for the arms, the skin for wrapping the instrument, and the strings for playing."
Fang Linyan nodded and said:
"I can understand that the choice of the three things you mentioned basically determines the quality of the finished product."
The boss said:
"Yes, usually, the wood we use to make the arms is metasequoia. The more precious ones are rosewood from Indonesia. However, the layer of skin is very particular. The first choice is cat skin, and then It’s dog skin, and the inferior ones are deerskin, pigskin, etc.”
"But in the eyes of the older generation, using cat skin is the authentic shamisen, using dog skin can only be inferior (local dialect: meaning defective product), and using other skins is completely heretical, and it is completely heretical. It cannot be included in the category of Shamisen.”
Having said this, the boss sighed and said:
"As for the shamisen you received, it was made during the chaotic period of the end of the Tokugawa period. I have only heard of the making method. It can be said to be very cruel. Normal people would not choose it. There are many other shamisen in the market.
There will be no such thing."
Fang Linyan said:
"I know, thank you."
He then looked around and found that there were quite a lot of musical instruments wrapped in leather in the store. With a thought in his mind, he took out the peculiar leather bookmark, pointed it at the boss and said:
"Boss, there is one more thing I would like to bother you with. Can you help me identify the specific material of this bookmark? If there is any result, I will thank you very much."
"Even if you can provide some clues, I will give you a relevant thank you gift."
The boss took the bookmark, looked at the light carefully, and then said with some confusion:
"It doesn't seem to be a common leather, but does it look familiar?"
Fang Linyan said in his heart that what you are talking about is nonsense. If it were common, people in Shanghai would have figured it out long ago.
After a while, the boss turned around and entered the back hall, and then took out a palm-sized wood carving.
"I can't determine its material myself, but I have seen similar things from my uncle. You can take this piece of wood to my uncle. He should be able to answer your questions."
Fang Linyan didn't expect that the answer he found in Cheap Daddy's anthology could not be found in China. Instead, he found clues in Japan, thousands of miles away! This was an unexpected surprise.
Then the boss told Fang Linyan the address where his uncle lived. The name there was also very weird. It was actually called "Navel Hair Village". Fortunately, it was not too far from Nagasaki.
Fang Linyan was always generous with people who could help him. He took out a stack of yen and gave it to the boss without even counting it.
The boss suddenly smiled and added:
"My uncle's name is Murawa Oni'an. He has a very weird temper. You may not be able to impress him with my token, but he likes to drink, so if you bring some wine, you will probably be able to get him to help."
Fang Linyan nodded and wrote down, "Boss, you look thick-eyed, but you are actually very scheming. If I didn't give you this wad of money, wouldn't I have said the following words?"
After Fang Linyan walked out of the shop, he found a place to eat a bowl of ramen. He saw Laming rushing back and said simply:
"I have inquired, and there are four ships departing within three days, including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Naha, and even a direct ship to London."
Fang Linyan said:
"It's better not to get on the Japanese ship."
Laming said:
"The Japanese still mostly use fishing boats in this port, and their merchant ships mainly trade in the Asian region. There are no Japanese merchant ships among these four ships."
Fang Linyan said:
"good."
Then he changed his mind and said:
"I have learned something about the assassin before..."
Then Fang Linyan told Laming about the shamisen. Laming was very impressed by the old man. After hearing what Fang Linyan said, Laming wanted to go to the store to have a look.
Fang Linyan knew that Laming had another mission, which was to collect information on these planes for the goddess.
The gods' thirst for knowledge in this unknown field is not low, especially since Athena's priesthood is still the goddess of wisdom, so they nodded in agreement.
Needless to say, the process of visiting the store was Laming's specialty. Building relationships with the boss was Laming's forte. Fang Linyan spent five yen to obtain the information. Laming easily chatted with the boss for at least a hundred yen.
something comes out.
After leaving the store, Fang Linyan noticed that Laming was in a low mood and said:
"What? Does the information you just learned about make you feel uncomfortable?"
Laming sighed and said:
"Yes, the shamisen that the old man carries is very special. It is made using a very cruel method. It is called Yamatai shamisen. To make this thing, you need to raise a female cat and raise it from an early age.
, fed with special food.”
"When the female cat reaches adulthood, she has to make her pregnant once a year, then drop the kittens she gives birth to to death directly in front of her, then chop the dead kittens into pieces and mix them into her food for her to eat, and so on.
ten years......."
"Kill this female cat, soak its skin and bones in a hundred pounds of human blood, and use a special method to refine it. If the refining is successful, a bloody pattern will appear on the skin, also known as blood soul.
, the longer the blood soul, the better.”
"Then, the refined bones were made into the main body of the shamisen, and the cat skin was covered on top. Finally, the hair of the dead and cat hair/cat tendons were used to rub out the final string. However, this was just a prototype, and in the end it was
To kill someone."
"Every time you kill a person, you have to dip his or her blood in his body while it's still hot, and play an ancient music of Shamisen. That music is called Shixiyin. When the strings become colorless and transparent at the end, then
The refining is considered successful."
Fang Linyan was a little dumbfounded, and then asked:
"This thing is so expensive to make, so what's its use?"
Laming shook his head and said:
"The boss said all these things from drunken chats with the elders. I probably don't know the rest."
The two of them were walking on the street. Fang Linyan went to buy a lot of drinks for later use, and then Laming said:
"By the way, there's one more thing."
"Tokugawa Ren sent us a message, saying that yesterday's assassination of Togoi was probably related to a businessman, and this businessman was very close to one of our previously planned targets, and could even be called a close friend."
Hearing what Laming said, Fang Linyan's eyes suddenly lit up and he said:
"who is it?"
Laming said:
"Eiji Fukushima."
"It's him!" Fang Linyan suddenly said.
This man also followed a technical path and was very good at repairing steam engines used in ships. Even the British shipbuilding company Wilson Company wanted to poach him at a high price.
Of course Fukushima agreed without hesitation...
However, after Fukushima left, the entire combined fleet immediately found that it was greatly affected. The ship's maintenance cycle instantly increased by more than 50%, and the maintenance quality was not as good as before.
That's fine. The key is that after more than half a year, the frequency of hiring foreign technicians has doubled. Not only that, the additional military expenditure in this area has increased by 60% compared to last year. The key is that it has only been more than half a year.
In the end, there was no choice. The military could only bring Fukushima back with a high salary and half-threatening his family. Although the Japanese military has learned a lesson and has since begun to pay attention to the cultivation of talents in this area, after all, it is only a matter of talent.
Four years later, the importance of Fukushima is also evident.
However, this guy doesn't usually go on the ship, so it will only have an indirect impact on the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, so Fang Linyan ranked him at the bottom.